Rain leaves a trail of destruction across State
The Hindu
The first major heavy spell of the southwest monsoon left a trail of destruction across the State on Tuesday. Traffic was disrupted as trees toppled over at many places in heavy rain and wind. Uprooted trees fell on electricity lines disrupting power supply at many places.
The first major heavy spell of the southwest monsoon left a trail of destruction across the State on Tuesday. Traffic was disrupted as trees fell at many places in heavy rain and wind. Uprooted trees disrupted power supply at many places.
The Southern Railway had to cancel two MEMU trains on the Kollam-Punalur route after a tree fell on the tracks in the morning.
The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus station in Kochi was flooded following heavy rain in the morning. Commuters had a tough time as they had to wade through floodwaters.
Considering the sharp rise in the water level in the Manimala river, the Central Water Commission issued a warning for Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. Connectivity to hill destinations such as Wagamon faced major disruptions.
Heavy rain accompanied by squally wind damaged 75 houses in different parts of Alappuzha, while eight people belonging to two families were shifted to a relief camp.
Strong waves battered the State coast with seawater entering houses displacing many at Ponnani in Malappuram, Veliyatham Parambu near Nayarambalam, and Kannamaly and some of the wards in Chellanam in Ernakulam.
According to the State control room two persons, one each in Palakkad and Kasaragod, died in rain-related incidents so far in State while one went missing in the Iruvazhinji river at Kodiyathur in Kozhikode on Tuesday. The search for the missing person is on. A total of three camps have been opened in the State accommodating 25 people from seven families.
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.